Foes on the ice, not in the oilpatch: Danes, Canadians to collab on carbon capture

After Denmark's stunning upset over Canada in the hockey world championship, Danish and Canadian researchers are teaming up for a different sort of high-stakes challenge: developing carbon capture technology.

Denmark's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta Innovates to collaborate on advancing the technology and driving down costs.

The agreement will last four years. During that time, both sides will meet regularly to compare notes.

Bryan Helfenbaum, associate vice-president of clean energy for Alberta Innovates, joked the two countries' budding hockey rivalry won't stand in the way of much-needed collaboration.

"As a Calgary Flames fan, I frankly wasn't aware hockey was being played anywhere anymore," he said at a media availability on Thursday. 

Helfenbaum added that Alberta has many of the key ingredients needed to develop carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), including reservoirs for storage and incentives offered by both the federal and provincial governments.

"As much as we have all those key ingredients, we still need to bring down the cost of CCUS to really enable widespread adoption," he said. 

"And so this MOU provides a four-year framework for collaboration between Alberta and Denmark to advance those CCUS opportunities, to facilitate those cost reductions."

The partnership opens the door for cross-border research projects and exchange trips for students and professionals, Helfenbaum said.

Denmark ambassador to Canada, Nikolaj Harris, signed the agreement on behalf of his country, which has set an emissions reductions target of 70 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. 

The country aims to be a climate-neutral society by 2050 at the latest, according to Harris.

"The Danish government has very, very ambitious goals in terms of emission reductions," he said. "In order to achieve these goals and achieve the targets that we set in the emission area, CCUS is a very important instrument and a very important tool."

Alberta Innovates facing funding cut

The new partnership comes on the heels of another much more sombre announcement from Alberta Innovates.

On Wednesday, CEO Mike Mahon revealed the Crown corporation is facing a $53-million funding cut starting next year — about one-fifth of its roughly $250-million annual budget.

The organization plans to cut and merge some of its programs as a result, but will look for other funding sources, including the federal government, private sector and international partners, Mahon added.

"In the world of innovation, we all recognize that things move rapidly," he told CBC News. "Things that might have been priorities five or seven years ago really are no longer priorities in the same way."

Even as the Crown corporation looks for savings, Alberta Innovates said it's open to deepening ties with Denmark in other areas of mutual interest, like hydrogen development and energy storage.

"[Carbon capture] is just the start, right? We have ample opportunity to expand this MOU," said Helfenbaum.